Album Review: Lazer Sword / ‘Memory’ (Monkeytown)

★★★★☆

Capitalizing on bass music’s extended reach, Lazer Sword lock in on a sound where the walls are closing in. You have “Point of Return” bashing away, and “Out the Door” really putting the squeeze on you. Through kindheartedness or luck the San Francisco swordsmen then let you push out into freedom, creating an LP programming a kind of concertina effect for speaker stacks, thrusting then recoiling. Mastering the lithe yet heavy, the hammer and tong of juke in near casual cruise control will never give you a moment’s peace – this is a Monkeytown product after all and quiet still means loud.

While using some stock sounds, effects and techniques in upholding bass/footwork’s share and share alike policy, there’s more to the all round game of Lando Kal and Low Limit, perhaps less satisfied than most with just raiding the sonic pantry from a future-underwater setting. Factoring in deep house breakouts, “Let’s Work” is tailored around Jimmy Edgar and Machinedrum almost inevitably turns up to lend a hand on “Chsen,” plus there’s booty-bulked electro (“Sounds Sane”) fizzing from a hive of activity. While Memory lacks a killer track to rewind, Lazer Sword have plenty to say in the bass shake-up.
File under: Sepalcure, Pinch,Martyn

Matt Oliver

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